Naruto: the Son of the Fox
by WolfQueen27
Summary: After falling out of a tree at the age of six Naruto awakens inside his mindscape. There he meets the Nine-Tailed Fox. The Fox, not use to seeing sad children, adopts the young Naruto. See how this change alters the fate of Naruto and those around him. Parental!Kurama Stronger!Naruto Eventually Alive!Kushina No Bashing
1. Chapter 1

It was a warm spring night in Konoha, birds nestled contently in the trees, citizens happily made their way home, and the ninja of the village went about their various assignments in the shadows. But one citizen, a young boy named Uzumaki Naruto, was not able to head home that night. No the poor boy, only six years, had been hit with a sake bottle thrown by an angry drunk. Normally the young boy would have had little problem avoiding such a sloppily thrown bottle but today he had been distracted. He had been thinking about the young girl who he had seen being bullied earlier that day.

It was due to this distraction that the bottle hit him square on the head, knocking him out of his thoughts and the tree he had been sitting in. He landed on his head and the world went black.

To his surprise when he woke up he wasn't outside by the tree but in a dark sewer. As he stood up he noticed in front of him there was a set of large cage doors with a tag reading 'Seal' in the center.

" **So my jailer finely visits."** A voice rang out from within the cage. " **Younger than expected. Tell me brat why are you here?"**

"Uh, where is here? And what do you mean jailer?" Naruto asked the voice. Suddenly two large, crimson eyes opened within the cage, they were bigger than Naruto himself with slight pupils.

" **We are in your mind, brat, where I am caged."** The voice spoke out.

"W-why are you caged in my mind? Can you get out? Did I do that to you?" Naruto asked, confused and frightened by both the voice and large eyes.

" **No brat you did not put me here. I may tell you how to release me but first, how old are you?"** The Voice spoke, its large eyes looking down on the young child in front of it.

"I am six, believe it! How old are you?" Naruto spoke, his fear forgotten.

" **Ha, I am far too old to put a number to. But you, brat, are here many years too early. How did you find your way here and why?"** The voice asked, a hint of suspicion creeping in at the end.

"Um, I don't know. I was sitting in a tree thinking about this girl with funny eyes when a bottle hit me on the head. I fell and woke up here, believe it." Naruto said, scrunching up his face as he recalled the earlier events.

' **Well that verbal tick means he is definitely Kushina's son and if he's anything like her he can't lie to save his life. Those whiskers are even endearing.'** The Voice, also Known as the Nine-Tailed Fox, thought to itself. " **Tell me kit, do you know who I am?"**

"Uh, not really, sorry Mr. Voice." Naruto said, looking sheepish.

" **I am the Nine-Tailed Fox."** The Fox said simply as it summoned light within the cage, illuminating its full form. It stood several stories tall, its nine tails billowed out swaying slightly as if there was a breeze, and its fur was a deep orange-red.

Naruto could only stare at the fox, he had heard stories about the destruction it had caused and how the Fourth Hokage had sacrificed himself to kill it. His young mind was racing to come up with a response; stuck between fear and awe. Finally he managed to form the words to speak, "Your orange! That's my favorite color, believe it!"

The fox nearly fell over at that, it had expected a lot of things but not that. " **I am glad you approve but surely you have something else to say?"** The Fox asked with a chuckle.

"Well, how did you get in my mind? I mean I thought the Fourth killed you?" Naruto asked. Flinching when the fox bristled at the mention of the Fourth.

" **You can not kill a tailed beast, we are beings of sentient Chakra. No your leader sealed me within you to stop me and he had to call the Shinigami to achieve even that."** The Fox said, reining in its anger to not scare the child.

"Does that mean I am a demon, like what some of the villagers say?" Naruto asked looking down at his feet sadly.

" **No, it means you are keeping me from killing those villagers. I am sealed in you, you are not me. Understand?"** The Fox asked, seeing the boy nod the Fox continued speaking. " **Now that that is cleared up, tell me who are your parents kit?" 'I could be wrong but those whiskers and the tick are sure signs of who his mother is.'**

"I don't know, the Old Man says he doesn't know either." Naruto said, the sadness in the young child's voice pulled on the Fox's nonexistent heart strings.

" **Don't be sad, kit. I can tell you who your mother was, I am not certain who your human father was but you are at least somewhat my child as well."** The Fox said, silently cursing himself, ' **Why did I say that!? Why did my jailer have to be so young, I can't stand sad kids!'**

"You know my mom! What was her name? What was she like? D-did she love me?" Naruto practically bounced as he asked his questions, a second later the last part of the Fox's sentence registered. "Wait your my dad?! Is that why I have whiskers?"

" **Her name was Uzumaki Kushina, like you she was a jinchuuriki. That means she too had me sealed within her. She definitely loved you, she was so very happy to learn she was pregnant with you, its all she talked about for months. As for me being your dad, no. Not really, you were exposed to my Chakra before you were born so some of my traits were passed down to you. I am the reason you have whisker though."** The Fox said with a sigh.

"Can you tell me more about her? Please dad!" Naruto asked, using the unstoppable Puppy-dog-eyes jutsu. The Fox tried to fight it but the eyes and being called dad was too much.

" **Later kit, for now you need to wake up. You said you fell off a tree, its not a good idea to lay unconscious in public."** The Fox said kindly.

"Wait, how will I get back here?" Naruto asked.

" **Just sit somewhere quiet and think of being here."** The Fox answered.

"Alright! I will see you soon, fox dad! Believe it." Naruto yelled happily as he faded out of his mindscape.

Waking up Naruto could see that it was darker than when he first entered his mind. Jumping to his feet he started to head for his house. Along the way he received a few glares from the villagers who were still awake but he paid them no mind, too happy to care.

He soon arrived at his run down apartment and unlocked the door. Locking the door back Naruto made his way to his room. He readied himself for bed and fell asleep with a bright smile on his face, today he had met his (sorta) dad!


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto woke up the next morning with a loud yawn. As he got up and stretched he couldn't help smiling as he thought back to the day before, he learned his mom's name and was told she loved him! He also met the Nine-Tailed Fox who was kind of his dad, in a way. That also meant he had more family, two dads and a mom! "My family would have been the best ever, believe it!" He said to himself.

Naruto considered trying to see his fox Dad right away but decided to eat first. Going into his small kitchen Naruto prepared some instant ramen. After the terrible three minute wait he nearly inhaled the ramen. "Alright, time to see fox Dad!" He shouted, once again, to himself.

Quickly going to his couch he plopped down and began to think about being in the sewer that was his mind. For several minutes nothing seemed to happen, as he opened his eyes though he saw the cage.

" **It seems you found your way here, very good."** The Fox said happily.

"Yeah! I am awesome, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed shooting the Fox a thumbs up.

" **So, I take it you want to hear about your mother?"** The Fox asked, getting an excited nod from the young boy the Fox spoke on. " **Very well, as I said her name was Uzumaki Kushina…"** The Fox began to tell Naruto what he knew of Kushina, how he came to be sealed in her, her nicknames, her inhuman love of ramen (which delighted Naruto beyond belief), and of the night she died.

"Wow! Mom was amazing, believe it! Thank you for telling me about her Dad!" Naruto said with tears, both of sadness from never meeting her and joy at hearing about her, flowing down his face.

" **You aren't upset? It was me who killed her."** The Fox asked, his features unreadable.

"It wasn't your fault, you said someone controlled you. Besides you are my Dad, I love you, believe it!" Naruto explained, shocking the Fox.

" **W-well kit, that's about everything I can tell you about her. Now that you know her name ask that old man you mentioned. Surely he must have heard of her, a jinchuuriki is rarely an average ninja."** The Fox said, trying to keep his composure. He really wasn't use to this kind of stuff, prior to being sealed he kept to himself, how was he supposed to be a father?

"You're right! The old man is the Hokage he should definitely know about Mom!" Naruto said, jumping with excitement. That news shocked the Fox once again.

' **The Hokage should have known who my kit's mom was. He has to have been purposely keeping the truth from Naruto.'** The Fox thought. Clearing his throat he spoke, " **Kit, go meet with the Hokage. Afterwards tell me what he say, ok?"**

"Of course Dad! We can learn more about Mom together, believe it!" Naruto said, waving goodbye as he faded back to the real world.

' **I hope that old man had a good reason for lying to my Kit, if not…"** The Fox thought menacingly.

Back in the real world Naruto awoke and quickly ran towards the door. He ran towards the Hokage tower at a speed no six year old should be capable of, blurring past everyone in his way. It wasn't long before he arrived at the base of the tower.

Casually Naruto strolled into the first floor of the tower, walking past the genin teams there who were picking up their d-rank missions. He headed up the stairs he went until he reached the top floor. Once there he walked up the the secretary and greeted her. "Hey Miss Yamanaka, is the old man free?"

"Now Naruto, what have I told you about calling me miss? Its Kaya chan." The secretary now identified as Kaya said with a kind smile. She was blonde, like many in her clan, and rather plump. She had retired as a ninja five years ago and had worked as the Hokage's secretary since then.

"Sorry Kaya chan, is the old man free? I need to talk to him." Naruto asked again looking apologetic for a split second.

"The Hokage is working on some paperwork but I doubt he would mind the distraction. Go on in." Kaya said with a smile. As Naruto walked into the Hokage's office Kaya couldn't help but laugh at the little kid's insistence on calling the Hokage "old man", it was sweet in away.

"Hey Old Man!" Naruto all but yelled as he opened the door. The aged Hokage looked up from his paperwork with a smile.

"Well hello, Naruto. What can I do for you this morning?" The Hokage asked, glad for a distraction from his paperwork.

"Well I was wondering if I could ask you about my mom?" Naruto asked, looking at the Hokage with hope filled eyes.

"I am sorry Naruto but I already told you I don't know who she is." The Hokage said sadly, he hated lying to the boy but for his sake it was best he not know.

"That's ok! I know her name I was just hoping you might know more about her." Naruto said. This shocked the old man, who was suddenly missing his paperwork.

"Oh, and what is her name?" He asked, activating a privacy seal under his desk just incase.

"Uzumaki Kushina! Kind of silly of you not to know we were related, I mean we each are Uzumakis." Naruto said with a smile.

"Who told you your mom was Kushina?" The Hokage asked with a forced calm, someone had divulged an S-Class secret he was livid.

"Oh, that was Dad! Though I guess you would know him as the Nine-Tailed Fox, believe it." Naruto said happily, oblivious to the effects his words had on the aged leader.

"D-did you say the Nine-Tailed Fox told you that?" The Hokage asked, signalling to one of his ANBU, in the ANBU sign language, to get Inoichi. If the fox was tampering with his surrogate grandson's mind it would have hell to pay.

"Yep! He knew her name and a little about her but only what she told him, he said you might know more." Naruto said, still oblivious. Tilting his head to the side he asked, "So do you?"

"Naruto, you can't tell anyone who your mother is, ok? She had many enemies outside of the village that may try to hurt you if they knew you were related." The Hokage said seriously, the smile on Naruto's face fell.

"Who would I tell? I mean I don't really have any friends except Kaya chan and noone is really willing to talk to me so." Naruto said, shrugging his shoulders at the end. The Hokage sighed.

"Now what do you mean, your dad is the Nine-Tailed Fox?" The Hokage asked, pushing through his want to comfort the boy.

"Well he is sort of my dad, he said his chakra was why I have my whiskers! And he's orange, believe it! He doesn't know who my other dad is though." Naruto said, happy to talk about his dad and not the fact he is alone.

Before the Hokage could speak a knock on the door is heard, with one last worried look at Naruto the Hokage spoke. "Come in, Inoichi." At this the door opened to reveal Yamanaka Inoichi, a stern looking blonde man with pupiless blue eyes.

"You called, Hokage sama?" Inoichi asked with a respectful bow.

"Yes, I need you to check on Naruto here. It seems his tenet has made contact with him." The Hokage said, his voice laced with concern.

"I see, what would you have me do? I am not a seal master." Inoichi said cautiously.

"Check his mind, see what you can find out." The Hokage said simply.

"Very well." Inoichi said.

"Hey, wait a minute! What are you guys talking about? What is a ten-net? And what do you mean check my mind? Don't talk about me as if I am not here, believe it!" Naruto yelled.

"I will just be looking through your memories to see if anything bad has happened recently. And tenet means someone who is staying with you or living in your house." Inoichi explained calmly.

"That's dumb, nothing bad has happened to me except a guy threw a bottle at me and I fell out of a tree. Other than that I learned about my family and met my dad. What could be bad about that, believe it?" Naruto countered.

"Well then my trip through your mind would be quite boring. But it is still necessary for me to do so, it won't hurt if that is what you are worried about." Inoichi said reassuringly.

"Fine, but you have to tell me more about my mom afterwards Old Man." Naruto conceded with a frown.

"Of course Naruto. You deserve to know about your mother." The Hokage said with a smile. Naruto nodded to indicate he was ready and Inoichi preformed the jutsu.

-Mindscape-

Naruto opened his eyes to see the now familiar sight of the sewer and cage. Inoichi stood a short distance away from Naruto frowning at the state of the boy's mind. 'A sewer is not the best indication of a healthy mind, but that may be due to neglect not the Fox' Inoichi thought clinically.

"Dad! We have a visitor!" Naruto yelled out happily. The Fox's eyes opened, causing a gasp to escape Inoichi.

" **What are you doing in my Kit's mind, Yamanaka?"** The Fox demanded.

"The old man wanted to check if anything bad had happened recently, so this guy is here to check. I don't see the point though." Naruto said with a pout before Inoichi could speak.

"Yes, I am here to insure no one has tampered with young Naruto's mind. Human or otherwise." Inoichi said seriously as he moved to inspect the room that made up Naruto's mind, his chakra already at work copying memories.

" **Unlike you humans I do not tamper with the minds of others."** The Fox said gruffly.

"Wait! They think you are messing with my mind? But why?" Naruto yelled out.

" **They think of me as a beast, nothing more. Isn't that right, Yamanaka?"** The Fox asked, turning its gaze on to the mind walker.

"I can not speak for others but I see you as a dangerous adversary who could manipulate a child. Though I see no signs of any genjutsu on the boy's mind, lies can be just as effective especially on a small child." Inoichi said, looking up from his examination of Naruto's mind and staring at the fox. "Though I will need time to fully sort through young Naruto's memories, I can only say it is better to be cautious. I would most definitely prefer you as an ally."

" **My my, you change your tune so quickly, are you sure I won't simply lie? We foxes are known to be mischievous and untrustworthy."** The Fox said with a toothy grin.

"You aren't lying, are you dad?" Naruto interjects, tears forming in his eyes. "You wouldn't do that, would you?"

" **Of course not Kit. I am just trying to, uh, prank the Yamanaka. I told you the truth, I wouldn't lie to my Kit."** The Fox said reassuringly, reaching one of his tails out through the bars to comfort the distraught child.

"I think I have enough information now, we can go back to the Hokage Naruto, it will take some time to properly shift through the memories anyway." Inoichi said, motioning for the boy to come closer to him.

" **Yamanaka, if you hurt my Kit I will kill you. Remember that."** The Fox growled.

"I have no intention of hurting young Naruto. I am not so cruel as to attack a child." Inoichi said as he ended the jutsu that brought him into Naruto's mind.

-The Hokage's Office-

The two began to stir after five minutes in Naruto's mind. "Well, Inoichi, what did you find?" The Hokage asked worriedly.

Inoichi shook himself before he responded, "I found no evidence of any genjutsu or memory alteration. Beyond what I observed between the two, I am afraid anything else will take time. I will have an initial report by tomorrow, and a more indepth one by the end of the week."

"I see, do you trust it?" The Hokage asked.

"It seems protective of Naruto, whether that was part of its deception is hard to say." Inoichi said, "From what I saw there seems to be genuine affection for young Naruto but I don't feel confident in stating anything conclusive."

"See that your first report is here by midday tomorrow, dismissed." The Hokage said as he turned to Naruto who was being unusually silent. "Well Naruto, I agreed to tell you more about your mother so what would you like to know?" That brought Naruto out of his silence.

"Well Dad only knew stuff she told him, so what was she like? What was our clan like? Do you have pictures of her?" Naruto began asking questions as quick as he could.

"Settle down Naruto, settle down. Now lets see, I have her a few of her things stored in my office. I planned on giving you these when you made chunin but I suppose now there is no point in waiting." The Hokage said standing up and walking towards the picture of the Fourth Hokage. He made some hand signs and the picture swung outwards revealing a safe, which he opened.

The Hokage pulled out two scrolls, one had a red tag and the other had an orange tag. "These here are storage scrolls; the red one has her swords and ninja equipment, don't open it until you graduate the academy ok? The orange has what is left of her personal effects, photos, clothes, and her books. Here I will show you how to open a storage scroll."

After that the Hokage sat down and told Naruto about his mother. About her love of ramen, her verbal tic, her squad mates, and her habit of pranking people. Naruto was delighted to learn just how much he and his mother had in common, when it was time for him to leave he felt light. The whole walk to his house he continued to feel light, the villagers' glares completely ignored.

Once home he hurriedly opened the orange storage scroll. Inside he found pictures of his mom with her friends and with the Fourth Hokage. "Wow! My mom knew the Fourth, I knew she was awesome, believe it!"


	3. Chapter 3

Four years have passed since Naruto first talked to the Nine-Tailed Fox, since then he learned the Fox's name is Kurama. After learning his dad's name their relationship became more stable has Kurama became more use to the idea of himself as a dad. They even managed to tear a bit of the seal, allowing Kurama to observe the world and talk to Naruto through a mental link.

Naruto entered the academy at the age of eight, he had hoped to make friends there but so far he had not. He had signed up for kenjutsu classes offered by the academy once a month. It was in this class that he met Uzuki Yugao, who was one of his mom's former students. Yugao was one of the few teachers who actually taught Naruto anything. Thanks to actually having a teacher in kenjutsu Naruto learned quickly, staying near the top of the class. In his other classes he was firmly at the bottom, his mom's books help though.

The books his mother left behind were mostly text books focused on fuinjutsu, chakra control, and kenjutsu. Other books talked about Uzushiogakure, the home land of the Uzumaki, and the rest were cookbooks. There was also a book called 'Tell of the Utterly Gutsy Ninja' which was about a ninja named Naruto!

Now Naruto is ten years old and his dad, Kurama, has promised him a special form of training. He was excited to say the least. So after getting ready for bed Naruto focused on entering his mind scape.

-Mind Scape-

"So dad, what is this super awesome training you were talking about?" Naruto asked, looking through the bars of the seal to his dad.

" **Now that I think you are old enough, I am going to teach you how to use my chakra. With this seal in the way you will be limited to two tails of power at the most but that should be plenty to protect you from danger."** Kurama explained.

"Oh, ok. So is there something special I need to do to use your chakra? Cause chakra control is sorta a major weakness for me, you know." Naruto said.

" **That is because you have more than your classmates, keep training and you will get better Kit. Now my chakra is dangerous, too much at one time can cause you to lose control of yourself or burn your body up. This training will be to get your body more use to my chakra. It shouldn't be too hard, you are my son so your body is already more adjusted than most."** Kurama continued to explain. " **We will start off with a tailless cloak, once you can comfortably wear it we will move on to tail transformations."**

"Transformation? What do you mean, like the elemental chakra stuff?" Naruto asked.

" **Not quite. You see, Kit, unlike most jinchuuriki you have always had exposure to my chakra. That's why you have whiskers and it is why you should be able to use my chakra to briefly become a half-demon. You would gain even more fox features, some may be permanent though."** Kurama said, smiling at the thought of Naruto looking more like him. " **It might even give you red hair, like mine or your mom's."**

"Wow! When can we start? I am ready now, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed, starry eyed at the thought.

" **I am glad you are so eager, we can begin tomorrow. Find somewhere isolated incase you get overwhelmed, that way I will have time to withdraw my chakra and you won't hurt anyone."** Kurama ordered.

"Alright, after class tomorrow I will find a training ground!" Naruto promised.

" **Good, go to sleep for tonight and tomorrow we will begin. Goodnight Kit."** Kurama said, curling himself up to take a nap.

"Night dad!" Naruto replied before leaving his mindscape.

-The Next Day: Outside of the Mindscape-

That morning Naruto barely made it to class on time, a miracle considering he was almost always late . The day went pretty normal from there, Iruka would teach history and chakra theory, Mizuki would then teach taijutsu (showing Naruto the wrong forms on purpose) then teach how to use shurikens and kunai, finally both teachers would teach ninjutsu and mathematics. On other days the class would go to other senseis to learn various things like calligraphy, flower pressing, geography, science, and a variety of subjects that would aid in both civilian life and shinobi life. After classes many kids would stick around to talk to friends.

Over the two year period that Naruto has attended he has yet to make any close friends. He sort of got along with a few classmates, mostly Kiba and Choji. He has wanted to talk to the girl with strange eyes, Hinata, but she always gets red in the face and he is not sure what to do when that happens. He had asked Sakura out a couple times until Kurama told him it was rude to do so after being turned down, so he apologized which seemed to improve their relationship but they were at best on neutral terms. Sasuke and him just didn't get along, at all. He liked Shikamaru but he was just so lazy. Shino he didn't talk to much but neither held any ill will towards the other so that's good. And finally there was Ino who was so obsessed with Sasuke that he doubted she even knew he was in the class.

In his kenjutsu class he had made a friend, of sorts. Her name was Tenten, like him she was an orphan. She was a year older than him so they were less friends and more mentor/mentee, she was nice though! She was also the only one in the class that could beat him in a spar.

After class was done for the day, and since there was no kenjutsu practice, Naruto made his way to the training grounds. After nearly an hour of searching he found an empty training ground, training ground 44 aka the Forest of Death. Ignoring both the signs and the fence Naruto made his way into the forest.

Finding a suitable clearing Naruto entered his mindscape and listened to Kurama's brief instruction on how to draw out his chakra. Unknown to him he wasn't alone, someone was watching him from above in the trees.

Having gotten his instruction Naruto exited his mindscape and began the process of drawing his father's chakra. At first only the thinnest trickle of chakra flowed from the seal, with more effort Naruto focused on bring the chakra out. Slowly more flowed out and into his own chakra pathways. The feeling of the chakra entering his pathways was like stepping into a hot spring on a cold winter's day, it was almost too much but still invigorating.

The figure in the trees watched as Naruto slowly formed an orange cloak of pure chakra around himself. The chakra felt dangerous and overwhelming. Then Naruto stood up and began to stretch.

"Gee Dad, I thought this would be hard! I mean this feels great, I feel pumped up and ready to fight believe it!" Naruto nearly yelled as he jumped from his stretching to punching one of the trees, blasting off the thick bark with each hit.

"Well, the little tresspasser isn't weak at least but who said you could come into my playground brat?" The figure asked from the trees.

"Ah! Who's there?" Naruto yelled, jumping nearly ten feet in the air.

"Ooh, did I scare you?" The figure asked teasingly as they jumped downing into the clearing, revealing themselves to be a purple haired woman with purple pupiless eyes and very revealing fishnet clothing. "This is my forest, brat. What are you doing in here?"

"Uh, I was training?" Naruto asked, what else would he be doing in a training ground. "And what do you mean 'your forest'? I thought training grounds were for everyone?"

"Ah look at that, not as dumb as you look. But only chunin and above are allowed in here brat. Your lucky that I, dear sweet Anko, found you before the tigers or leeches did." The woman now known as Anko said with a smirk. "Now tell your dad to get out here and you two beat it."

"My dad? I can't exactly bring the Nine-Tailed Fox out here just to kick him out of a forest. That would be dumb." Naruto said with a smirk, he never got tired of revealing his relation to Kurama.

"The Nine-Tailed Fox? Are you ok kid?" Anko asked, she knew the kid was the jinchuuriki of the Fox but this was weird.

"Yeah, that's right I am Uzumaki Naruto son of the Nine-Tailed Fox and Uzumaki Kushina!" Naruto stated proudly, only to pale when he realized what he had said. The cloak was, if nothing else, lowering his inhibitions. "Oh god! Don't tell anyone about that, the old man will kill me!"

"I don't know, what will you give me to not talk? Make it worth my while." Anko teased, a sadistic smirk firmly on her face.

"Ah, I don't really have much money or anything of value! Please I'll do anything!" Naruto begged, grovelling on the ground at Anko's feet. His grovelling was interrupted by Anko's laughter.

"You are too fun Gaki, too fun." Anko said still laughing. "Maybe if you keep being fun while we fight I won't tell the old man that you slipped up."

"You want to fight? Why didn't you say so, just don't come crying to me when you lose! Believe it!" Naruto said, jumping up from his position at Anko's feet and into a fighting stance. His stance was from one of his mother's books, the basic stance of his mom's whirlpool style.

"Such confidence, I can't wait to crush it." Anko purred, getting into her own stance.

Naruto lunged at Anko, thinking his boosted strength and speed would be enough to shorten the gap in their skill. He was wrong, the moment he lunged Anko countered faster than his enhanced eyes could follow. Suddenly he was on the ground with a foot pressed against his chest.

"Aw there we go, back where you belong." Anko purred once again before removing her foot and helping Naruto up. "Don't worry Gaki, your secret is safe with me. All you gotta do is treat me to dango and poof, it's like you never revealed that big bad secret."

"Thank you! Let's g-" Naruto started to say before being interrupted.

"At least that's what I would say if I was nice but no one has ever accused me of being nice. No the dango is first then the rest all depends on what you look like after you graduate. Maybe more dango or maybe something tastier~" Anko said as she slowly invaded his personal space. One thing Anko enjoyed more, well maybe as much as dango, was making people uncomfortable. It was a personality trait that arose after being abandoned by her teacher then shunned by the village, not the best way to handle everything but at least when people don't like her it's because of her and not the 'snake bastard'.

"Y-you want dango AND ramen? Gama-chan is gonna starve!" Naruto cried, the chakra cloak dissipating in his overly dramatic performance.

"Ramen?! You dare imply ramen is better than dango? You heretic!" Anko gasped out, as though someone was denying a universal truth.

"Of course ramen is better than dango, it's the food of the gods! Believe it!" Naruto said, his voice filled with righteous fury.

"Oh poor Gaki, who has been filling your head with such nonsense? Have you never tried the true godly food that is dango?" Anko asked, looking down at the misguided youth before her. She would save this child and show him the ways of dango.

"Uh, no. But nothing can beat ramen, so you must not have had ramen." Naruto shot back, now determined to help her to the path of righteousness that is ramen.

Kurama sadly had to suffer through the circular debate the whole night.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in this update, new chapters will probably be posted** **every other** **week now instead of every week.**

 **Before this chapter starts I thought I should answer some questions you guys have been asking. So the most asked question is about Kushina, where is she and is she alive? Well the answer is no, right now she is dead. That will change in the future, after the Wave arc. I won't say how, to avoid spoilers but I hope it will be worth the wait.**

 **Second, why didn't Kurama tell Naruto about Minato? Well at first he wasn't sure, after that he just didn't want Minato to replace him. Kurama also doesn't see Minato as worthy of his Kit.**

 **Finally, will Naruto become a half-demon? Sort of. Kurama isn't a demon, he's sentient chakra, but his chakra is different than human chakra and it wants to be fox like so Naruto will have some physical changes. The severity of those changes I am not sure of so feel free to give your opinion. Should he stay mostly human just gaining more feral features and maybe pointed ears? Or should he grow a tail and be covered in fur? Somewhere** **in between** **?**

 **Anymore questions, I will be happy to answer as long as it doesn't spoil anything. So without further delay let's begin chapter four!**

Since the encounter with Anko in the Forest of Death Naruto had continued to practice using Kurama's chakra. With Anko supervising him he made good progress, now at age fourteen he is capable of calling on the chakra cloak within seconds and can enter one-tail mode in a similar amount of time. From this training he has also improved his taijutsu thanks to Anko. One other change this training has brought is that his hair has streaks of red and his fingernails have become more like claws. These changes haven't endeared him to the villagers but the more feral appearance was appreciated by Anko, who quite happily admitted to liking the changes, and Hinata, not that she has told him that due to her shyness.

Outside of training with Anko Naruto began studying fuinjutsu from his mom's books and is at the level he can make explosive tags, storage scrolls, and restriction seals. He is currently working on making barrier seals. From Yugao he has improved his kenjutsu, according to her he is at a low-chunin level. His chakra control has begun to improve, thanks to his mom's books which told him about tree walking.

At the academy his grades remained average at best, only a few teachers actually taught him. Those teachers were Iruka, who he saw as an older brother of sorts, Kurenai, who taught genjutsu and who quit the year before, and finally there is Rukia Haruno, who teaches science and one of the kunoichi classes that Naruto doesn't attend.

Naruto's ninjutsu has improved. He invented what he would call the most powerful jutsu ever, the sexy jutsu. Its power is so great even the Hokage has been defeated by it. Yet despite the power of the sexy jutsu and his skill in kenjutsu and his chakra cloak he still failed the graduation exam.

It was this failure that led to the Hokage feeling the power of the sexy jutsu as Naruto snuck into his office to steal a scroll for the make up exam. That same scroll he now has to learn a jutsu from. A jutsu that just so happens to be shadow clones, oh how he loves the clone jutsu. But Naruto is nothing if not persistent. So he practices.

Two hours later Naruto successfully summons a shadow clone, to his surprise it isn't just an illusion. This prompted him to look at the description of the jutsu in the scroll, the revelation of just what this jutsu could do floored Naruto. "Holy crap! I'm graduating for sure with this and then I'll be Hokage in no time, believe it!" Naruto declared to noone in particular.

As Naruto was celebrating Iruka landed in the clearing he had been practicing in. "NARUTO WHY DID YOU STEAL THE SCROLL OF SEALS" Iruka bellowed out.

"What do you mean sensei? I am doing the make up test and I am going to ace it for sure, believe it!" Naruto once again declared.

"Make up test? What are you talking about, who said there was a make up test?" Iruka asked, clearly confused.

"Mizuki sensei, he said I just needed to get the scroll, learn a jutsu, and boom I pass. I learned a jutsu too." Naruto said as dread started to creep in. "There isn't a make up test is there?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting you here Iruka." Came Mizuki's voice from behind Iruka causing both student and teacher to jump a little. "Good job Naruto, now hand me the scroll and you pass."

"Don't give him the scroll Naruto. There isn't a make up test, take the scroll and run to the Hokage tower, I'll hold him off." Iruka said, getting in between Naruto and Mizuki.

"Don't listen to Iruka, he is lying to you just like everyone else. Tell me, do you want to know why everyone hates you?" Mizuki asked, an evil grin on his face.

"Go Naruto, hurry to the Hokage's tower!" Iruka said desperately.

"He hates you like all the others and he won't even tell you why! Don't you want to know?" Mizuki yelled, hoping desperately for his gamble to pay off.

"Mizuki, shut up!" Iruka yelled, as he did Mizuki launched a vaully of kunai at him. He couldn't move because Naruto was behind him so he did his best to block the incoming projectiles. He managed to stop all but two, which hit him in the shoulder and lower leg.

"Iruka-nii!" Naruto yelped. He noticed Mizuki ready to launch one of his fuma shurikens at the injured Iruka. As Mizuki ready his weapon Naruto called out his cloak, when Mizuki launched the large shuriken at Iruka (Mizuki shouting about his genius plan all the while) Naruto launched himself over Iruka and in front of him.

In the blink of an eye Naruto was standing, cloaked in orange chakra with one tail billowing out behind him, holding the fuma shuriken. He tightened his grip and the weapon shattered. " **If you ever hurt my sensei again, I'll kill you!"** Naruto declared, his voice warped by the cloak.

Iruka was stunned in front of him stood Naruto, his favorite trouble making student, with a fox tail and a cloak of orange chakra. When Naruto looked back at him he gasped, Naruto's eyes were slitted, his whiskers more pronounced, and his ears were pointed. " **Don't worry Iruka-nii, I'll protect you from here on out, believe it!"** Naruto stated with a smile.

Naruto turned back to Mizuki without another word and brought his hands up in a cross shape. The forest exploded in smoke and suddenly it was filled with a hundred cloaked Narutos. Even with Mizuki's greater skill the Narutos had every other advantage, they were faster, stronger, and there was just so many of them. Within moments Mizuki was overwhelmed and soon was nothing other than a mess of broken bones and regret.

Once the clones were done pummelling Mizuki they dispelled along with the chakra cloak. Iruka limped towards the panting Naruto. "Here close your eyes for a second Naruto." Naruto compiled and soon felt a weight on his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Iruka without his forehead protector. "Congratulations Naruto, you pass!"

It took a moment for Naruto to process those words but once he did he enveloped Iruka in a bone crushing hug. "Thank you Iruka!" Naruto cried.

"Your welcome but please you're crushing my spine!" Iruka weezed out. Naruto let go with a bashful sorry and without further delay the two decided to go to the Hokage tower. Naruto carried Mizuki while Iruka carried the scroll, since he was injured.

The trip to the Hokage was quicker than expected since before Naruto and his injured sensei made it out of the clearing a group of ANBU arrived. The ANBU quickly shunshined them to the Hokage's office. With a nod from the Hokage the ANBU left as quickly as they appeared.

"Naruto, care to fill me in with what happened?" The Hokage asked in his Stern Grandfather Voice(™). Naruto gulped and told him what had happened starting from Mizuki offering a makeup Genin test to the arrival of the ANBU.

"I see." The Hokage said thoughtfully. "Do you have anything to add Iruka?"

"N-no Hokage-sama. Naruto summed it up very well." Iruka managed, trying not show how much pain he was currently in.

"Right. Bear, take Iruka to the hospital and Cat take the traitor to Ibuki." The Hokage ordered. Two ANBU appeared to comply with his orders, disappearing with their respective charges in a puff of smoke. "You did very good tonight Naruto! I will have a B-rank mission pay delivered to your account."

"Alright!" Naruto yelled, "That's gonna get me so much ramen!"

'Now don't spend all your money on ramen, you need some better equipment and a sword. Not much point in all that kenjutsu training without one Kit.' Kurama spoke up through the seal.

'Oh yeah, haha. And I can get some good ink for seals, good idea Dad!' Naruto thought back happily.

"Um, Naruto?" The Hokage asked seeing the far away look that passed Naruto's face.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Jiji I was talking to Dad. He said I should get a sword and other stuff instead of ramen." Naruto explained.

"Well that is a good idea! Now I think you should go home and get some sleep, no doubt today has been rather draining." The Hokage suggested with his concerned grandfather voice.

"Yeah, I guess. See you Jiji!" Naruto agreed, waving goodbye he quickly jumped out the window.

"Why, why do they always use the window?" The aged Hokage asked himself tiredly.


	5. Chapter 5

The week after the Forbidden Scroll Incident was strangely hectic for Naruto. He was introduced to the grandson of the Hokage, Konohamaru, who quickly adopted Naruto as his boss/rival/big brother. That happened the day after his fight with Mizuki, throughout the week after that Konohamaru had him playing ninja and hide and seek. The games were relatively harmless but the subsequent fights/pranks against Konohamaru's annoying teacher Ebisu were less so.

Finally though it was team assignment day, a day Naruto was both hyped for and dreading. The two conflicting emotions were powerful enough that Naruto made it to class on time without needing to be scolded by his dad.

He entered the classroom wearing his signature orange jumpsuit and a Konoha forehead protector proudly displayed on his, well, forehead. Most of the passing genin were already in the class and a few turned to look at who came in. "What are you doing here Naruto? And what's with the fake headband, you can't prank your way into being a genin." Came the voice of Kiba, the question wasn't meant to be mean, more like friendly teasing.

"Hey! This is a real headband, believe it!" Naruto yelled back, flicking the metal headband for emphasis. "Just ask Iruka-sensei, I passed a make up test!"

"W-way to g-go, N-naruto!" Hinata called quietly to herself, too shy to say it any louder. Luckily for her Kurama's influence had heightened Naruto's sense to near Inuzuka levels.

"Thanks, uh, Hinata!" Naruto said, glad he could remember the shy girls name. His blindingly bright smile nearly causing Hinata to faint. The word 'troublesome' is muttered at some point during the exchange.

Suddenly the classroom door opened again and in walked Iruka with bandages wrapped around him, a clear sign of the brief battle against Mizuki. "Good morning class! Everyone take your seats." He called as he walked towards his podium.

Naruto quickly took an open seat next to Hinata, who let out an 'eep' and fainted. Much to the amusement of Kurama who assured Naruto she was fine. Before Naruto could reply Iruka began his speech. "Today you are all Genin of Konoha, full fledged shinobi! I am proud to have been your teacher and I know…" As Iruka continued Naruto began to talk/think to his dad.

'I can't wait! I wonder who will be on my squad?' Naruto thought happily.

'Well it will most likely be strategic, others who compliment your abilities.' Kurama explained. 'You are an effective fighter at any range so you may be paired with others who are less versatile.'

'That makes sense.' Naruto thought… thoughtfully. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream.

"YEAH! Take that Ino-pig!" The shout came from Sakura who apparently was assigned on a squad with Sasuke and Kiba. Kida's groaning showed he was less happy about the squad.

"Quiet down!" Iruka yelled then he cleared his throat and continued. "Right, team eight will be Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame. Your jounin sensei is Kurenai Yuhi. As team nine is still in circulation team ten will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your jounin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi."

Once Iruka was finished talking the classroom door opened and in walked the jounin, all but one perpetually late pervert. They called their squad to them one by one and left the room. Team eight's squad leader, Kurenai, was a striking woman with dark red eyes. She called her team and told them to meet up on the roof. The three new genin looked at each other, well Hinata tried but she was more focused on not passing out, before making their way to the meet up point.

Up on the roof the three saw their new sensei and took seats around her. "Alright, so before we do anything else introductions are in order!" Kurenai said, her voice was professional but had an edge of excitement. "I am Kurenai Yuhi, Konoha's resident genjutsu mistress. I only recently made jounin. I like vodka, fighting, and spending time with my friend Anko. I dislike being leered at, cake, and the headache I get from spending time with my friend Anko. As for my hobbies, well I mostly just like to drink and train. Alright, your turn Shino."

Shino looked unaffected by being put under the spotlight. "Very well. My name is Shino Aburame. I like caring for bugs and studying bugs. Why? Because my clans techniques revolve around them. I also enjoy salad. I dislike strong smelling food, why, because it bothers my bugs. For hobbies I study bugs and hope to discover new species to add to my hive." Once he was done Kurenai looked towards Naruto, who was bursting at the seems to introduce himself.

"Alright! I am Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, my dad, and pulling pranks with my big sis Anko! I don't like waiting for supposedly 'instant' ramen to be done and I don't like stuck-up people. My hobbies include training, pranking, and playing ninja with a gang of kids that may have adopted me as their leader/big brother!" Naruto finished his introduction with a bright grin and a laugh. Kurenai took a moment to chuckle to herself before motioning for Hinata.

"H-hello, I a-am Hinata Hyuga. I like flower pressing, training with my little sister, and studying medicine. I don't like bullies. My hobbies are…" Hinata stuttered by the end she was pressing her two index fingers together. Truth was she didn't really have hobbies, she wasn't allowed them.

Kurenai, seeing how uncomfortable Hinata was, spoke up. "Alright, very good everyone. I think we all have a better understanding of who we may be working with. Tomorrow, meet me at training ground eight at seven in the morning. We are going to have a test to insure everyone is capable of being a genin."

"What? But I thought that was what the genin test was for?" Naruto asked more confused than upset.

"It is to weed out the students who are definitely not ready. We jounin sensei perform our own tests to see if you match our standards. Don't worry though, just remember you are a team and you will do fine. I will see you tomorrow." With that Kurenai vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"Well whatever it is we'll do great! Isn't that right guys?" Naruto asked cheerfully.

"Y-yeah!" Hinata cheered bashfully. Shino just shrugged noncommently and walked off with a wave.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone, sorry for the long wait on the next chapter. Writer's block hit me hard, but I've now got a better idea for where I want this story to go so it shouldn't be an issue any more. That being said I've been thinking about what other pairings to add to the story. At the moment I am thinking Sakura x Ino and Gai x Kakashi with each being sort of background ships. If there are any pairings you want to see let me know and I might add them to the story.**

 **Now as far as plot goes I've finally decided to just not follow the shippuden plot, up until then though I will try to follow cannon to a degree (just with my own twists). Some elements of Shippuden will remain like the akatsuki will be there but probably debuffed quite a bit since some of their members never made since to me in terms of canon power seen up til then (i.e. Hidan and Kakuzu).**

The next morning the newly formed team eight waited at the entrance of training ground eight. Naruto managed to be there early, a surprising feat considering his habit of oversleeping. It was right at seven that Kurenai appeared in a puff of smoke. "Good morning team! I am glad to see you are all on time, certain shinobi can't seem to be bothered." Kurenai said with a look towards training ground seven.

"Good morning sensei." The three genin hopefuls replied.

"Right, so before you all can call yourselves genin you need to pass my test. To put it simply this team was originally planned as a tracking and recon unit but I don't want to over specialize you three. So your test today is to track me down then try and capture me. So with that begin." Kurenai said before dissolving into flower petals.

The three teammates stood staring at the flower petals for a brief moment before looking at one another. "So, uh, how should we go about this?" Naruto asked looking towards Shino and Hinata. Hinata activated her byakugan before she said, "I-i can't see her, she is already over fifty meters away from us."

"It seems it would be smartest to work together. Why, because we are each effective at different ranges. I can send out tracking kikaichu to search for sensei. I assume you, Naruto, have enhanced senses correct?" Getting a nod Shino continued, "Then you can attempt to locate her by her scent while Hinata checks the area with her byakugan. Is this an agreeable plan?" Shino finished, looking at his teammates expectantly.

"Sounds good to me!" Naruto replied. Hinata simply nodded.

Focusing on the smells around the training area Naruto looked around confused. Trying again he shook his head and stared at his teammates. "Uh you two smell different and I can't seem to pick up sensei's scent anywhere." Naruto finally said causing the other two to look confused, or with Shino his eyebrow briefly rose slightly.

"W-what do you mean, N-naruto?" Hinata asked slightly red in the face.

Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion for a second before understanding dawned on him. "We're in a genjutsu!" Naruto exclaimed, similar looks of understanding grew on the other two genin's faces. With a shared nod the three each exclaimed, "Kia!" and flared their chakra. The genjutsu was disrupted and the three saw Kurenai look at them with a smile.

"Good job, I thought it would take longer for you to see through the trick." Kurenai praised.

"Haha, it takes more than that to fool my nose!" Naruto said with a laugh before taking a fighting stance. Seeing this the other two quickly followed his example. Kurenai smirked before she too got into a stance.

Naruto was the first to make a noticable move, charging forward while unsealing his sword, a wakizashi. Kurenai was unfazed by the appearance of the sword and expertly parried with two kunai. She kicked him in the stomach, launching him backwards. She was then set on by Hinata, who had her byakugan blazing as she tried to land a juken strike on the jonin. Once again Kurenai blocked or parried each strike seemingly without effort.

Before she could force Hinata back she had to jump to avoid a swarm of kikaichu. While in the air she use the replacement jutsu to avoid a barrage of shuriken thrown by Shino. Before she could hide away in the trees she was set upon by twenty Narutos. She managed to pop five before the other two members of the team joined the fray.

"Alright, that's enough!" Kurenai called out, stopping the fight in its tracks. "You all did good, you showed good teamwork skills and your combat abilities are where I would expect them to be for fresh genin. You pass!"

"Yay! We're awesome, believe it!" Naruto yelled as he and his clones hugged his teammates and sensei. This of course was followed by a, "Eep!" and Hinata fainting, apparently three Narutos hugging her at the same time was too much.

After Hinata woke up and reigned in her blush that didn't seem to want to go away the newly minted genin and their jounin sensei went to a celebratory lunch. Naruto was nervous, unsure if the barbeque place they were going would even let him in. He hid it well though as he listened to his dad congratulate him for passing his test.

They arrived at the restaurant, Akimichi Barbeque, and much to Naruto's relief the hostess didn't even bat an eye at him. The team ate quietly, since both Hinata and Shino tended to be quiet people. The quiet was disrupted by, surprisingly, Hinata who asked, "N-naruto, yesterday y-you mentioned one of your likes was your dad. C-could you tell us about him? I-if its not t-to personal?"

"Sure thing! I met my dad when I was six, since then he has helped take care of me and helped me train. He even told me about my mom, Kushina Uzumaki!"

"Your mom is Kushina?" Kurenai asked suddenly, mentally berating herself for not seeing it earlier.

"Yep! Did you know her?" Naruto asked.

"Know her? You bet she did." Came the voice of Anko, Kurenai's face paled slightly.

"Really?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Anko sat down at their table, uninvited, grinned sadistically at Kurenai and said, "Yeah, she was her jounin sensei and Kurenai had the biggest crush on her. Everytime we met up as genin that's all she would talk about, how amazing your mom was."

"Of course my mom was amazing! How else could I be so great, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. Kurenai was nearly Hinata levels of red in the face, her genin team did not need to know about her childhood crush! Hinata was watching everything, happy to both learn more about Naruto and her sensei and to not be the one blushing up a storm.

Shino watched everything with an emotionless expression, on the inside he was finding the new information worth remembering. Finally Anko was loving this, Kurenai rarely cut loose and maybe a bit of friendly teasing would help plus its really fun to tease her.

"H-how about to continue telling us about your dad, Naruto?" Kurenai suggested, sending a glare at Anko who just stuck her tongue out at her.

"Sure thing! Well let's see he is orange, which is like the best color. He is lazy, as lazy as Shikamaru! His name is Kurama and his fur is surprisingly soft." Naruto said missing the confused looks of everyone but Anko, who already knew about Kurama.

"Did you say fur?" Shino asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah! I always forget he is the kyuubi. But he's not a monster, he was mind controlled when attacked the village." Naruto said, quickly adding the last part.

"Um, what?" Hinata asked, her stutter gone in her confusion.

"Well that's kind of why I have these whiskers and why my hair has started to turn red. He was sealed inside my mom when she was pregnant so I was exposed to his chakra. Then on the night he attacked he was sealed in me by the fourth. I only met him when I was six because some guy hit me with a bottle and I passed out." Naruto explained.

"S-so that's the r-reason you changed so much over the years?" Hinata asked.

"Yep! Dad even says that as I get use to using his Chakra more and more I might start to take on more physical characteristics of his. Like growing tails or ears or even fur." Naruto said, "Though I might not, he's not sure."

"N-n-naruto w-with f-fox ears." Hinata stuttered out as she tried to desperately fight off the blush, mental images, and fainting that all threatened to overwhelm her. In the end she looked dazed with a far off look in her eyes and heavy blush.

"Good work Gaki, you've broken her." Anko said with a laugh, one that Kurenai couldn't help but share.

"Hinata! Are you ok?" Naruto asked jumping up from the table and kneeling by her side. As the various day breaks subsided Hinata was greeted by the sight of a concerned Naruto only a few inches from her face. She promptly fainted.


	7. Chapter 7 Bunny Blues

**Hello, sorry for the long wait! Writer's block hit me hard with this story, though I think I have most of the pre shippuden story mapped out now. At least a rough idea anyway. As for Shippuden, it is very doubtful that I will follow cannon closely if at all, pre-Shippuden cannon will be followed about as closely as it can be with the changes I've already made. The reason Shippuden won't follow cannon as closely is mostly because I have not seen all of Shippuden and because what I know of it doesn't always make since with what happened in the original series. One change that I sort of, briefly, touch on in this chapter is the strength of the Jinchuriki. They will be considerably more powerful in this fic than in cannon, since they were stated to have been used to deter war. The akatsuki will still be there but their success with capturing the tailed beasts will be a lot more hit or miss.**

 **That being said if there are arcs, especially filler arcs, you want to see leave a comment and I will try and add that arc. Now without further ado please enjoy chapter seven!**

The weeks that followed Team Eight's first day were filled with training and chores, also known as D rank missions. The training was a combination of teamwork drills and exercises to improve on each team member's weakest areas.

For Shino this was close combat, he was proficient at the academy style but since that style itself is mostly used to train muscle groups before to prepare for an actual combat style it wasn't much help. He began learning the Northern Praying Mantis fighting style, a style that happen to suit his overall theme and worked well with his strengths. Other then that his clan handled teaching him more of their own jutsus.

Hinata needed work on both gen and ninjutsu, as her clan typically doesn't allow its members to learn anything that doesn't use their byakugan so this training had to be kept secret. Kurenai tested the whole teams chakra natures, Hinata had a strong water affinity. Because of this Hinata began to learn the water bullet jutsu, the water clone, and the syrup trap jutsu. For genjutsu Kurenai decided to focus on her ability to detect them and train that up.

Naruto ended up needing the most work; his taijutsu had suffered from sabotage and his ninjutsu was lacking. Though thanks to the wonders of shadow clones his ninjutsu improved quickly. He had a strong affinity for wind and a minor one for water. Kurenai first taught him a new fighting style, Muay Thai. He took to it like a fish to water or a fox to napping. For ninjutsu he learned the wind style great breakthrough, the water bullet jutsu, and the great clone explosion. People around the elemental nations gave a shudder of fear when Naruto mastered the clone explosion, except for a blonde with mouth hands who shed a single tear of joy.

When the three genin were not training they were complaining about D rank missions or doing D rank missions, or both. Well Naruto was complaining, Hinata endured in quiet resignation, and Shino showed little emotion. Anko found their pain funny, and laughed at their complaints when she had lunch with the group. Kurenai also found it funny but had the decency to not laugh too much at their plyt.

Five weeks after the team's formation they could be found finishing up one such D rank, a Tora the cat mission. The D rank that was definitely the worst of the bunch since the cat Tora was either an actual demon or just very determined not to live with Madam Shijimi. The team agreed it was probably both, even Shino agreed!

The team had just captured the cat and were on their way to deliver him back to the Hokage's office. As they were walking Shino decided to ask something he had been thinking about since the team's first day. "Naruto, if I may ask, is your unusually high chakra capacity a side effect of your father being sealed within you?"

"Uh, oh partially, I think. Uzumaki have always had larger reserves than normal. I think mom's journal mentioned that the average genin had larger reserves then a non uzumaki chunin and Uzumaki jounin often rivaled Kages from other villages. According to dad my coils had to grow more rapidly because the seal constantly leaks his chakra into my coils." Naruto said with a thoughtful look on his face as he carried a calm Tora, genjutsu is a wonderful thing.

"I see, so were in terms of level would you put your reserves?" Shino asked, he wanted to know mostly to have a proper estimation of were each of his teammates were and how to best utilize himself and them in a fight. He was no Shikamaru but he was a skilled tactician.

Naruto looked thoughtful for a moment. "According to dad and the old man my reserves are roughly the same as two Kages', give or take. That's why I can make so many Shadow Clones." He said with a shrug, not noticing three sets of eyes popping out.

"...I see." Shino said evenly. Inside he was quite less even, the various ways that could be applied in combat meant Naruto was basically a wild card. An unseen smirk graced Shino's face as he realized that he could spend hours to day making various basic contact plans for his team.

"My my, you know what they say about men with large chakra coils!" Came the voice of Anko, who seemed to spend a lot of time with Team Eight. "I bet the images are driving our shy little bunny crazy." You could hear the teasing smirk.

"Anko, behave. I don't want Hin-" Kurenai began but was interrupted by Hinata falling to the ground, she had fainted. "Nevermind, but please refrain from purposely making my genin faint." Kurenai was pretty sure Anko wasn't listening since she was on the ground laughing. Both Kurenai and Shino gave a tired sigh as Naruto checked on Hinata, waking her up and promptly causing her to faint once again. Tora the cat peacefully slept on Hinata's stomach having a genjutsu created dream of living in a peaceful home with an old lady who would gently pet his head.

It took sometime before Team Eight managed to collect themselves enough to finish the journey to the Hokage's Tower. Once there they delivered the sleeping cat to Madam Shijimi, who was stopped by Hinata before she could crush the cat in a hug. "C-cat's have d-delicate backs, he might b-be m-more a-apreciative of a s-soft head rub while y-you hold him." The shy girl managed, years caring for a bunny having taught her how to hold small animals.

Madam Shijimi noticing the rapid nodding of Tora tried it out and found that though it didn't feel quite as love filled as a hug Tora did purr so that's a win! "Look at this my daringly Tora is purring! Hiruzen make sure to give the little rabbit child a good bonus." With that she left, cooing at Tora, followed by her guards.

'Why did she call me a rabbit? And why did Anko call be bunny?' Thought Hinata, not realizing that her sister had attached rabbit ears to her coats hood. So lost in thought was she that she missed the Hokage congratulating them for possibly removing the Tora missions.

Her thought were interrupted by Naruto demanding better missions, 'Naruto is so bold, if I was more like that maybe people would call me a lion or tiger or Mecha bunny!' Hinata thought to herself.

Once again her thoughts were interrupted but this time it was by an old man who smelled of alcohol. "This is the team going to guard me? The creepy one looks decent but the blonde and the rabbit don't look like much." The old drunk said. Hinata deflated.

"Hey! You take that back I am a real ninja and Hinata gots a kick like a super rabbit!" Naruto yelled before turning to look at Hinata with and smiling, "Don't let that drunk get you down, an angry rabbit is scary and you are at least as awesome as ten angry rabbits."

Instead of blushing and fainting Hinata was confused, that sounded like a complement and he sounds genuine but ten rabbits? Hinata's confusion was shared by the entire room and within his seal Kurama was face palming.

Throwing his arm over her shoulder Naruto pulls her to his side and continues,"Yeah, I'm a fox and you are a rabbit! We'll show everyone how awesome we can be!" He really only has two volumes: ghost quiet and yelling. Tazuna stares at the duo in confusion and despair. 'The last of Waves money went to hiring this team and half of it is whatever this is!' He thought.

Kurenai was going to reassure the client that they could get the job done but once again Naruto threw her off her rhythm. Even Shino was showing emotion, though the fact it was laughter was more disturbing than anything.

Hinata's brain finally registered what Naruto said, having briefly shut down when he pulled her to his side. With an unusual amount of bravery she spoke, "Yeah, we'll teach people not to underestimate us!"


	8. Chapter 8 First C-Rank!

**Hello and welcome to chapter eight of Son of the Fox! This chapter marks the end of the** **prologue and the beginning of the first arc, the Wave Arc. I've received** **a couple of really cool suggestions for things to do for this arc from both pm's and reviews and some of those ideas will be used or incorporated in someway into this arc.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed or favorited this fic, you guys are awesome! Now without further ado, here is chapter eight.**

After Hinata's declaration things settled down somewhat. "While it is nice to see two genin so fired up about improving themselves perhaps we can finish things up here?" Came the voice of the Hokage.

"Right! Team meet at the village entrance in one hour. And Mr. Tazuna, don't worry my team will keep you safe." Kurenai assured the crying drunk. He didn't seem too convinced but still left to get his stuff so it wasn't her problem anymore.

"Before you go, Naruto I need you to stay behind for a moment." The Hokage spoke as Team 8 began to leave. Waving at his teammates Naruto looked towards the old man. Once everyone cleared out and the door shut the Hokage spoke again, "So what is this I hear about you telling your team about your mom?"

"Uh, uhm." Naruto began only to be cut off by the Hokage.

"I do believe I told you to keep that information private, didn't I?" The Hokage asked in his authoritative voice.

"B-but since they're my team shouldn't it be ok for them to know?" Naruto asked, having forgotten that he was suppose to keep his mom's name a secret. To be fair he doesn't get to talk with people very often outside of Anko, who already knew, and the Old Man so it's not a rule he thinks about too often.

"I see, so you think you can trust people with information that might endanger your life because they are your team?" The Hokage asked, hiding his smile behind his crossed hands. Letting Naruto stew for a moment he then said, "Good! It is important to trust those you are fighting alongside but remember you must be careful where and to who you divulge information. Your genin team will hopefully in time form bonds that will last a lifetime but you should always be thoughtful of who you trust, understood?"

"Yeah, understood." Naruto said uncomfortably, not liking the idea of his teammates betraying him or him betraying them.

"I'm glad. Now have you opened your mother's second scroll yet? I must admit I've been expecting to see you carry around some of her gear." The Hokage said, glad to talk about a much lighter topic.

"Well I was going to open on my first mission outside the village, I sort of thought it would be sooner than this though." Naruto explained, finishing with a mock pout.

"Aw, I suppose that makes since. Your first C-rank is something of a milestone, so perhaps I shouldn't keep you hmm?" The Hokage said with a smile. "Go on and get packed. And don't just pack ramen."

"You got it Old Man, I'll only mostly pack ramen!" Naruto yelled with a laugh as he turned and ran out the door.

Once at his apartment Naruto quickly gathered his things. He grabbed his clothes, ramen, chakra ink, paper, and extra kunai and he sealed it up in a storage scroll. With his packing done he picked up the red tagged scroll that was filled with his mom's ninja equipment. Unsealing the scroll created a burst of smoke.

Once the smoke cleared several items were visible on the ground. The most notable was a nodachi, the blade was in a dark red sheath and had a similarly colored handle. The handle also featured a swirling pattern that ended with a snarling fox head at the pommel. Over all the sword was beautiful and it was as long than Naruto was tall.

Other than the sword there was a case of shuriken and kunai, a number of smoke pellets, a maintenance kit for the sword, ninja wire, and a black headband with the Uzumaki symbol in place of the leaf. Naruto lifted the headband from the floor to look at it more closely in reverence. This was his mom's headband, one she wore to remember her lost home!

Wanting to show pride in his family's lost home, as his mom had apparently done, Naruto replaced his headband with his mom's. Though he realized he should still wear the headband of _his_ home so he tied the headband Iruka had given him around his waist like a belt. He nodded to himself happily as now he could honor his clan and look cool with two headbands!

The rest of the of the stuff was added to either his belt or his storage scroll except for the nodachi. It was not a sword he knew how to wield, though after this mission he was determined to find Yugua and see if she could teach him.

With that decided Naruto sealed the sword back into the scroll and hid it with under a loose floorboard, he then activated a security seal over the board. Standing up, sure that the scroll was secure, he gathered his storage scroll and left the apartment.

Naruto got to the meet up point five minutes early, despite that his team was already there. "Ah, hello Naruto. Now that you are here we can head out." Kurenai said with a hint of pride, she had been drilling it into her team's head (Naruto's) to always be on time or early if possible.

"Yeah! Let's do this!" Naruto replied enthusiastically. The other two, Hinata and Shino, nodded their agreement and team 8 along with Tazuna began there trip to Wave.

The gate guards waved them off as the team took their first steps outside of the village walls. The worn stone road leading them off into the wider world. On either side of the road was the forests that gave Konoha its name, filled with tall, ancient trees.

The team was mostly alone on the road and so began to talk amongst themselves while keeping an ear out for trouble, not that anyone expected it so close to the village. "Naruto I notice you are wearing a different headband?" Shino asked, though it could be interpreted as a simple statement.

"Yeah! This was my mom's, believe it!" Naruto exclaimed. "It was the symbol worn by the shinobi of Uzugakure, the village my clan founded!"

"T-that's great Naruto, it must mean a lot to have something of your mom's to remember her by." Hinata said quietly, thinking about her own mother's garden that she now cares for.

"Yeah, I even have her sword but I'm not really any good with such big blades." Naruto said.

"You mentioned your clan founded a village, has something happened to it?" Shino asked.

"Oh, well back during the Second Great Shinobi War, a joint army of Iwa and Kumo forces attacked Uzu. From what mom said in her journal Uzu was outnumbered by about three to one counting the non shinobi citizens. Don't know what happened during the fight but only about a hundred Iwa and Kumo shinobi survived and the village was left lifeless." Naruto said soberly, he might not have seen the city or known the people but they were family.

"I see, I should apologize. Why? Because clearly this is a sore subject and I should have been more tactful." Shino said as he walked. Naruto just waved him off his apologies.

"Don't worry about it. You didn't know and honestly it happened nearly twenty years before I was even born. No use wallowing in the past when you can make tomorrow awesome instead!" Naruto exclaimed, trying and succeeding to bring the mood back up before it could get too down.

"A good mindset to have Naruto. But keep in mind that if you need to talk I'm always willing to listen. That goes for all of you." Kurenai said from behind, she was bringing up the rear of the group to observe how her genin acted on the mission and to better pick up any signs of danger.

"Thanks Kurenai-sensei." Naruto said with a smile directed towards the jonin.

"No problem. What kind of jonin-sensei would I be if I didn't make sure my genin were able to talk to me?" Kurenai said with a smile.

As the conversation moved on among her genin Kurenai saw a puddle in the road. A puddle that had no place being there since it hadn't rained in over a week. With an internal sigh Kurenai prepared for the mission to get more complicated.


End file.
